workflows Archives | Comidor Digital Automation Platform

Code Components

Comidor team — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 16:43:15 +0000

Comidor offers a powerful Workflow Designer which is compliant with BPMN 2.0 where you can map and optimize any process that takes place in your company. Comidor provides a plethora of workflow components such as basic, integration, data, RPA, Machine Learning models, and code components to cover every possible need. You can easily drag and drop any component, connect the elements between them to draw the alternative paths, and add any automation features like an automated email or an automated document creation.

Workflows can be linked with a generic process or with an app.

To access Workflows, click on App Factory Icon > Process Automation > Process Designs. Open a record, and click on the tab Design.
For Workflow applications, go to App Factory Icon > Application Builder> App Designer and then open a workflow-type app and go to step 2.

Code Components

Include Code Components in the Comidor Workflow Designer, and enhance your processes without using any coding. Users without development skills can add the following code components into the workflows to replace commands and queries:

Set values
Existence check
SQL Creator
String Utilities
JSON Array to Excel
Deserialize JSON

Set values

One of the available code components is the set values, where Comidor enables users to assign values to specific fields. For example, you can give to a date field the value of the current date (#DATE#), make a calculation, define a value (make a checkbox checked, or give an option in a key-value list type field), etc.

Give a Title to the component.
Set the Parent Stage which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
In the Data map, define the fields of the workflow and the values you wish to assign to them.
- Click on the + icon to map more fields
- Click on the – icon to remove a row.

In case you want to modify the Set values code component, you can click on the pencil icon and proceed accordingly.
When you run the workflow, the Set values code component runs automatically when you reach this step. The fields defined in the map have the values you have set (eg the checkbox “Paid” will be checked, the “Travel date” will be today’s date and the “Total amount” will be calculated based on the formula and the values of the other 2 fields).

Existence check

With the existence check component, Comidor enables users to check if a record exists in a particular Comidor application. For example, you can check the existence of a contact or an account based on a defined condition (eg. email).

Give a Title to the component.
Set the Parent Stage which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
Define in which Entity you want to search in if a record exists. Choose from the list of all Comidor applications.
Write the Condition of your query (as if you would write it in a script)
Choose a Response field to store the response of the check existence code component.
- If you receive value 1, the system has found at least one query result
- If you receive value 0, the system has not found any query result
- You can use the response field in the workflow conditions to activate an alternative flow.

In case you want to modify the code component, you can click on the pencil icon and proceed accordingly.

SQL Creator

Another code component is the SQL Creator component, which enables users to produce or execute database queries. For example, you can run an insert query in a specific table (e.g. Contacts). The SQL Creator component supports the statements: Select, Insert, Update, and Delete.

Give a Title to the component.
Set the Parent Stage which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
Type: define the kind of operation/statement you want to perform. Choose between the Select, Insert, Update, and Delete options.
Action: choose between:
- Produce query – the component will form the statement, and write it on the Statement field so that the user can run it on a DB
- Execute query – the query will be executed and the results (in case of selection) will be shown on the Results field
Advanced Query: if checked, the advanced query text area will be displayed and the users write by themselves the query to be executed
- Recommended for complex queries which cannot be specified otherwise
Define in which Table, you want to search in if a record exists. Choose from the list of all Comidor applications.
Choose fields: the field (select one field of the table) Value (select an app/process field)
- in case of insert: the entity which will be inserted will have the value to the respective field
- in case of update: similarly for the entity which will be updated
- in case of select: the results of the select query for each field(1st column) will be stored in each Value(2nd column)
- Click on the + icon to add more fields to your query.
- Click on the – icon to remove a row.
Write the Condition of your query (as if you would write it in a script)
Order by: in the first row select the field which will sort the results, and in the second, specify if the sorting will be ascending or descending.
Choose a Results field to store the response of the code component.

Examples are given below:

You can insert a new contact with specific values in the Contacts table.
You can update an existing contact, by providing a new email.
You can delete all the existing contacts that have been created before a certain date.
You can get Name, Country and Email from all the existing contacts. (select statement) In the results field, you see the JSON array of all the existing contacts in your database(the response of your query).

You can get data such as Shipping Address, City, Vat Registration number, and other account fields from 1 existing account. (select statement) In the choose fields, you can map the account fields with process/app fields to assign values to (the response of your query). Do not forget to limit your query with a condition (e.g. where the id of the accounts table is equal to a record field where you chose 1 account “ID=”+#app.USR_SELECT_ACCOUNT#), or add ordering (eg Order by CREATE_DATETIME Descending, and it will fetch the last record added).

In case you want to modify the SQL creator code component, you can click on the pencil icon and proceed accordingly.

String Utilities

Drag-n-drop the String Utilities code component into your workflow to perform common functions for a string variable (text field). Currently, the String Utilities code component supports the Index of and the Substring methods.
By using the Index of method, the user identifies the position of the first character of a string inside another. It is also a way to actually check if a character or a string exists in another.
The Substring method enables the user to get a part (substring) of a string(text) by defining the start and the end positions.

Give a Title to the component.
Set the Parent Stage which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
Select a string field: the text or memo type field to run this code component.
String function: choose between the options:
- Index of
- Substring
Determine the Function Parameters:
- Value to be found – for Index of: define the value of a field(runtime value) or a hardcoded value to be found in the string field selected above.
- Start index – for Substring: add a value of the character position to start the substring
- End index – for Substring: add a value of the character position to end the substring
Choose the Result field to store the response of your function.

Examples:

Search a text or memo field that includes the name of a file eg Report_January23.pdf to find the keyword “Report”. In the String Utilities code component, choose the “Index of” function, define in the function parameter the value to be found “Report”, and choose in the result the field you wish to store the position character that the keyword was found. If the keyword is not found your number field will have the value of 0.
- You can use this response field in your conditional paths.

From a text field that includes the name of a file eg 1020104_January23.pdf, we want to store the unique code, which is the first 7 characters, in another field. In the String Utilities code component, choose the “Substring” function, define in the function parameters the values for start and end indexes (1 and 7 respectively), and choose in the result the field where you wish to store the unique code.

In case you want to modify the String Utilities code component, you can click on the pencil icon and proceed accordingly.

JSON Array to Excel

One of the code components that allows you to get values from a JSON is the JSON Array to Excel. Add this code component into your workflow, get values from a JSON array and give its values to an excel type user field.

Give a Title to the component.
Set the Parent Stage which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
Choose the memo/text field that contains the JSON array in the Input.
Define from the list of user fields the excel type field to store the Output.
Choose the Result text field to store the response of the code component.
- The response will be “Error” or “Successful”.

Example: If you have received a JSON array as the response from a RESTFull web service or an SQL query, and stored it in a memo or text field, like this:

[{“ID”:”678782656625000″,”USR_STATUS”:”Reserved”},{“ID”:”678782656625800″,”USR_STATUS”:”Pending”}]

you can use this code component to show it to the end user in an excel type field, which is more user-friendly and readable than the JSON array.

Deserialize JSON

Drag-n-drop the deserialize JSON code component into your workflow, get values from a JSON object and give its values to certain fields. Comidor enables users to map the keys of a JSON object with application fields and assign its values to them.

Give a Title to the component.
Set the Parent Stage which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
Choose the memo/text field that contains the JSON object you want to deserialize.
Map the JSON keys with fields in which the values of the corresponding keys will be stored.
- Click on the + icon to add more keys
- Click on the – icon to remove keys.
Choose the Result text field to store the response of the code component.
- The response will be “Error” or “Successful”.

For example, if you have a response from a REST service or SQL query stored in a text/memo field in a JSON like this: [{“ID”:”678782656625000″,”USR_STATUS”:”Reserved”}]

you can use this component to get the values of each key and assign them to specific fields.

Find out more about the rest workflow components here and how to connect them with code components.

The post Code Components appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Workflow application

Comidor team — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 14:33:31 +0000

Comidor platform offers the ability to design your own workflow apps through App Designer, without using any coding. Making a simple or more advanced workflow app is easier than ever, even for non-developer users. Comidor guides you with simple steps, in order to publish your idea.

There are various types of applications provided in Comidor App Designer. You can choose the one that fits better your needs from the following options:

Table applications:
- Sequential apps (with workflows)
- Process-based workflow apps
- Simple Non-process based apps (Data-driven)
Report applications
Kanban applications

Let’s see step-by-step how to create and run a workflow app.

Workflow Application

The workflow app is a table process-based application. Choose this type when you want to monitor processes that include few or many steps, manual or automated, with multiple paths and business rules, with scheduling, state, completion, etc. With workflow apps, designers can easily map and orchestrate the business process steps with the Comidor powerful workflow engine, which is compliant with BPMN 2.0.

Access App Designer

In order to access App Designer go to the main menu on the left side of your screen and select the icon App Factory > Application Builder > App Designer

In the new unit that opens, click on the button Create an App.

Create App

Click on the “Create an App” icon to create a new workflow app. The creation form opens.

In the Application Type select Table Application.

Give the Application Name and Description.
You can either choose from the existing options in the list or add a new Menu Header option. Depending on your selection, your app will be displayed in the corresponding menu header with a new icon. If you leave it empty, it will be included in the packages menu header.
You can also classify your app in a proper Category. Choose one Category from the existing options, or make a new Category. Categorization helps you find easier your apps in the App Designer. Based on the category you choose, the app is also displayed on the respective sub-menu.
Collaborators are the users or groups that have access rights to this App. Choose one or more users(s) or group (s) from the list.
Select whether this app is Basic or Supportive.
Leave the option Process enabled checked. If so, you are able to link a Workflow to your App.
Uncheck the option Is sequential.
- If you leave it checked, you will create a Sequential app. You can then, switch to BPMN 2.0 in step 2. Once you switch to BPMN, you will be able to see the respective steps represented in a sequential workflow diagram, where you can add more steps and rules. Your app will no longer be sequential.
Define if this app has a Kanban view. If enabled, table records can be displayed on Kanban boards.
There is an option to upload an Image for your App.
Click Save to create your App, or Close to cancel.

Once you save your app, you are redirected to the view form. Comidor guides you through simple steps to design your App.

1. Dashboard

In the step Dashboard, you get an overview of your application. In particular, you are able to view:

Quick Stats:
- Number of forms, Steps, and Widgets that are created in this App
- Graphs that show the application activity timeline and the Apps Overview status.
Basic Info:
- the Type, Category, and other parameters
- You can click on the pencil button to edit the above info
  - You can lock your app by checking on the Locked option. With this option, only the user who locks the app will be able to edit the app (in all steps). All the rest users will just be able to view the app, but can not edit it.
  - By checking the Has customizations option, the application will not be exportable.
  - Put a flag to remember if this application Has application parameters.
Collaborators: the users or groups that have access rights in this App.
Comments: an area where users who have access can write and view comments.

2. Process

In the second step, you can fully design your process in terms of the number and the looks of the process steps, your Data model, Table View, and User forms.

Data Model

When the Data model tab is open, you see a sub-table with the following columns: icon, label, size, column name, created by, created on, last updated by, last updated on, the pin, and multi checkboxes.
You can see the existing and/or add all fields that you want to be used in the App here. You can click on the “+” to create your own custom fields.
Click on the refresh icon, and the table should be updated.
Type a keyword in the search area, click enter and the table should be refreshed displaying results that match the keyword.

Click on an existing field, to view its basic info: By default, you will see Entity, Label, Auto-generate name, Column name, Type, Default Value, Store Type, Tooltip, and Security Level. In the Connected Forms tab, you can view the list of forms in which this field is used.

Workflow

Define one by one the steps of your workflow application, or Switch to BPMN design for more advanced applications. Each step is actually a workflow task in BPMN 2.0, with assignees, one form, and fields linked to it. Click on “Create the first step of your application”.

Find out more about Sequential apps here.

You have the option to Switch to BPMN design, in the Process step.

A confirmation pop-up appears.

If you click Yes, you will be able to see the respective steps represented in a sequential workflow diagram, where you can add more steps and rules. Your app will no longer be sequential but a workflow app.

With Comidor BPMN 2.0 Designer, you can map and optimize any process that takes place in your company.

Drag-n-drop any workflow components from the left side panel, into your pool.
Define the attributes of each component
Draw the sequence of your steps and define your business rules
Make sure you connect all alternative paths with one or more End components.

Basic Components

Comidor offers the following BPMN 2.0 basic components:

Tasks and escalations
Subprocess
Email
SMS
Notification
Timer
AND/OR/XOR gateways
Annotation
End

Integration Components

Additionally, designers can cover their integration needs with the following components:

RESTful Web Service
OpenAI API
Message Queue
Teams integration
Google integration
Zoho projects API
Zoho leads API
Freshdesk API
Salesforce API

Data Components

Designers can use low-code data components for data input and output:

Comidor DATA (insert/update/delete)
Shell Command
File Reader
Export Data
Convert Data
Digital Signature
Document Creator
QR Generator
Table Extractor
Excel Processor
Graph Creator
Blockchain
KPI Update
DMN

RPA Workflow Components

Other workflow elements can be added within the workflow design to enhance automation in business processes with RPA and ML/AI. Those components are:

RPA Caller/ Receiver
Sentiment Analysis
Document Analyzer
Text Classification
Predictive ML
Selenium RPA
Image Classification
Web Scraper

Code Components

Enhance your processes without using any coding with the Workflow Code Components. Add the following code components into the workflows to replace commands and queries:

Set values
Existence check
SQL Creator
String Utilities
JSON Array to Excel
Deserialize JSON

My Plugins

Designers can upload their own plugins for custom code to perform any advanced functionality they wish. Drag and drop the My Plugins Component in any workflow, and then
choose which plugin to run. The response of your plugin can then be stored in an app field and used within your workflow.

Learn more about each Workflow Component in detail.

Table View

Determine which columns you wish your App to have in the main table. By default, you should see all the table fields you have created in the steps, and will be added as columns in your application table. Each field has a pencil and x buttons.
You can add more Columns, by clicking on the “+” icon and selecting the desired field, or drag-n-drop from the list of the available fields.
- A pop-up appears to add a column. Choose a field from the list (both custom fields and process fields are available).
- Add a label name. If left empty, the column gets the field name.
- Prefix or Suffix to be displayed before or after the value of each entry
- Select the preferred alignment
- Define the preferred width in percentage to be displayed as default in the summary table
- Other options like ALIAS Column, Not Sortable, and Hidden are available, too.
- Check the “Is Kanban Field?” option in case you want to display this field on the Kanban boards.
- Click save to add this column to your table, or cancel.

Drag and drop the field columns, in order to re-arrange their position in the Table View.
You can select one or more columns and delete them from Table View if you wish.
Click on the edit button to make any changes you need to each column.
Click on the x button to remove this field from the Application table.
Switch to mobile view, to get a preview of your Application table in a browser of a mobile device. Choose a preferred device (mobile, tablet)

Forms

All forms included in this App are visible in the tab User Forms. Create a new one or edit the existing forms here.

By default, no form is chosen. The message “You haven’t selected a form. Please select one!” is shown. Select a form, OK, and plus buttons are available.
Click on the “+” icon. A pop-up window appears to define the title of your new form. Click on Save to save your form and you are directed to the form designer.
On the left side of your screen, under the Design tab, you will find the Elements (panel, section, code, paragraph, style, grid, group), a list of fields that you can include in your form, and a preview of the form. Easily search for the desired fields and add them to your form with a simple drag-and-drop action.
Click on a field and a pop-up appears where you can add properties for each field. You can define various properties for the field, including mode, label, tooltip, translated value, pattern, pattern error message, required, alignment, placeholder, element CSS, Element CSS Class, label position, size, hidden, Trigger event scripts on user entry, Disable changes by scripts on this field, is Area, Has QR Input, and the Area Size.
Under the Settings tab, you should see the following Basic fields: Record type, Title, Access, Main, Primary, Quick, Position, Form Division, Mobile form, Approve/Reject form, and Validity. In the Advanced section, you will find fields such as Script before open, Script before edit, Script before save, and Template File.
The following buttons are also available in the form designer: Add tabs, mobile view, toggle fullscreen, publish, copy, and delete.
- You can also make a form Main, which means it will be visible in the main record as a tab. State the position of each form that you want to display.
- For the form, you want to start the App with, select the option “Replace existing form” in the field Primary, if you wish to initiate your app from the “+” icon of the summary table of the App.
- In the Quick field, you can choose the form to be visible in the Quick Add menu or in the process templates list, if you wish to initiate your app from the Quick add menu.
Don’t forget to Publish your form after finishing your design.

Furthermore, you can edit the existing forms from the tab Forms. Select one from the list and click OK.

3. Graphs

In step 3, you can design your app Graphs or Widgets. Comidor Widgets are the ideal choice for data visualization. Get the most updated data on the visualization format you define.

Create your own personalized dashboard in seconds.
Combine multiple views of data to get richer insight.

You can easily create a new Graph, by clicking on the “+” icon.

Find out more about all types of Widgets and how to create them.

4. Advanced

Get the most out of the App Designer with this advanced options step by including user tabs in your records or the table of your app, event scripts, data objects, and field rules to show or hide fields, sections, or tabs in forms when specific conditions are met. This step is available only for Table applications (non-process & process enabled).

User Tabs

Use tabs to have complete control over the accessibility of your application.

The tabs appear inside records (as a tab at the left part of the record) or at the summary table of the application.
A tab can be a table from any Comidor entity, HTML, or widget.

You can easily create a new Tab, by clicking on the “+” icon
The Record type is by default the name of the App and disabled
Select the Type of Tab you wish to create (Table, HTML, or Widget)
- In Type Table:
  - Give a Title to the Tab
  - In the “View Tab in” choose record.
  - Select Query: the query to define which fields to be fetched as columns from which tables
  - Where Clause: type a specific condition to be met
  - Access Code defines who can access this tab
- Select Type HTML when you want to add guidelines or other important information for a specific app:
  - Give a Title to the Tab
  - In the “View Tab in“: choose record or table.
  - Access Code defines who can access this tab
  - Unit-action – insert the HTML here

- Type Widget: a tab to monitor all the widgets (general or application widgets)
  - Give a Title to the Tab
  - In the “View Tab in“: choose the table option.
  - Access Code defines who can access this tab
  - After saving this tab, click on Add widget button to Select the widget you would like to be displayed
  - All added widgets are displayed on Linked widgets. You can click on the ‘-‘ to remove a widget from this tab.

Field Rules

The field rules functionality enables you to hide or show fields/sections/tabs inside forms when certain conditions are met.

Click on the Field Rules tab and you will be able to see the sub-table of all field rules, with the following columns: Rule title, Field(s), Section(s), Tab(s), Created by, Created on, and the pin button.

Refresh button: Internal refresh in the table/all updated records are presented
Search option: type a keyword and press enter; respective field rules appear.
Pagination: Navigate through available pages to see all Field rules.

To create a new Field Rule press on the “+” button, and the creation form opens.

Give a Rule title
Select the Action to be performed: you can either Hide or Show
On: choose between fields, sections, or tabs, depending on what you want to show or hide. Depending on the option you choose on the “ON” respective lists will appear.
Set in which Form you wish this rule to be applied (from the user forms that the selected field is displayed)
Choose the name of the Field(s)/Section(s)/Tab(s) that you wish to perform the above action. Click on the + icon to add more rows. – to remove a row.
Select the desired Save option (refer to Quick Reference Guide

Custom Condition Builder

After saving the Field Rule in your workflow app, and while being in the view form, you can add conditions.

Click on the ‘+’ icon to insert a new row
Select the unit that the field comes from (Process, Application name, etc.)
Choose the Name of the Field and its value
Use AND, OR, and parenthesis to form your conditions
After adding all the rows of conditions you need, click on the Publish condition button.

Manage Field Rules

If you want to make any changes to a Field Rule, simply select the respective Field Rule and click on the pencil icon.
After making any changes click on Save.
In order to change the conditions, simply make the changes you wish in the view form of the Field Rule, and then, press the Publish condition.
You can Delete one or more Field Rules, by multi-checking them in the Field Rules table and then clicking on Delete.

Data Objects

Data objects are discrete units of information that are structured and organized within a computer system or database. When we use the term “data object”, we are essentially referring to a set of data that should be considered as an independent entity. Data objects come in a variety of forms, such as data tables, lists, forms, pointers, records, files, and sets.

With data objects in Comidor App Designer, you can enhance the functionality of your event scripts in any app. It allows you to quickly and effortlessly create any type of data set you require.

To create a new Data Object, simply click on the “+” icon.
Create data sets, variables, lists, forms, records, or action data types and define their properties.
Utilize those data objects in event scripts.

Event Scripts

In this tab, you are able to write scripts for a certain Data Type to be executed before/after/on a specific event.

Click on the “+” icon to create a new Event script:

Add the Procedure Name.
Choose the Data Type (apprec, task, process, dataset) and define where you want the script to be applied.
An Event Type can be inserted, updated, deleted, etc.
In the Procedure Body add your code.
- This is for advanced users to write their procedures.

5. Configuration

In this step, you can make the configuration of the workflow application.

Decide what you would like to include from the Basic options
- Notes, Tags, and Links.
- If the Kanban view is enabled, define the “Group by Field” and the “Title Field“. The “Group By Field” is used to categorize boards, while the “Title Field” will serve as the title for each board.
- The ability to create, edit, and/or delete an entry.
- The Activity history tab
- Decide whether you would like to include the print/export options in the summary table of this application.
- Allow user layout change; the ability to change the table’s categorization, and the pin button to remove columns.
- Define a Primary Field (Record Identity: Appears in lists, etc). To define a primary field, select one of the fields you created in step 2 from the drop-down list.

Customize your data by:
- Defining a Numeric field as Incremental, and in every new record, it will automatically increase by one with every new record. Additionally, you have the option to specify the starting number.
- Setting a Prefix and Suffix to the app and an Incremental No Field; select a number field from the Data Model for which you want to auto-populate a number. eg. for this app the requests will get SR.1, SR.2, etc.
- Selecting a default categorization for the table view based on a specific field (Title, Priority, etc.) – up to level 3.
- Choosing a specific field to display the Summary table ordered by ascending or descending order.
- Granting rights to your app; define to whom each entry is assigned, send notifications, Admin 1,2, and Supervisor. Choose users, groups, or dynamic options such as Creator, creator’s Manager, etc.
- Setting up to 3 numeric fields, to be displayed in the table as Totals (Sum fields 1, 2, 3).

You can fully customize the app layout, by selecting font sizes and colors in CSS Design options.

You can easily incorporate custom CSS and JS within the App Designer, unlocking endless possibilities for personalization and enhanced functionality as you build your app. Simply add your custom CSS and JS rules in the Configuration step of your app. Remember to publish the app to save your changes.

6. Analytics

The Analytics step provides the designers, with insights into each Workflow’s real-time usage.

Dashboard tab: Set Analytics Filters to get the results you wish.

- Narrow your results to tasks that were assigned to a specific user or group.
- Select the period of time you are interested in.
- Click on Refresh and the following graphs are populated: Analytics Totals, Instances per State, Tasks per User, Delayed tasks per User, Tasks per Team, Delayed tasks per Team

Pinpoint the total and delayed instances and tasks that were created within one workflow. Cost is calculated based on the duration of each task multiplied by the cost rate of the user that completes each task. See more in the Services unit.

Analytics Preview tab: Set Analytics Filters to get the results you wish.

Choose between Total or Delayed Tasks to be displayed.
Monitor the Duration and Cost of each step.
Select the period of time you are interested in.
Click on Refresh and the diagram is updated wholly. For each chosen filter a row is added with the data from the run time. (value & percentage).

View workflow analytics with the “Delayed Task” Filter to measure the scheduled time and the actual time it took for a task to be completed. This feature enables users to identify bottlenecks. Each task will have the chosen filters (Total tasks, Delayed tasks, Cost, Duration, ineffective KPIs) with counter & percentage. The tasks with delays will be highlighted in red, whereas those with no delays in green.

View workflow analytics with the “Total Task” Filter to measure how many times every task is executed in total. This will identify your “critical path”, and your process “optimal path” and ultimately will help identify where the focus should be on, for better resource management.

Publish your App

Finally, click on the Publish button in order to Publish your app.

Your workflow app is ready to use!

Note that you can also create an Application with NLP in just 4 steps. Find out more here.

Edit Apps

If you want to edit an existing workflow app, go to the main menu on the left side of your screen and select the icon App Factory > Application Builder > App Designer. From the list of applications, select the one you wish to edit.

You can navigate through steps 1-6 by clicking on the respective step and applying any change you wish. Do not forget to publish your changes.
You can delete a User App if you wish. Open the App you want to delete, and from the actions button, click on the Delete option.
- A confirmation pop-up will appear. Click Confirm to proceed with the deletion or cancel.
- You can also check the Linked Entities that will be affected in the respective tab.

Run an App

While viewing an app in the App Designer, you can easily run your workflow app! Click on the Play button on the top right of your screen and the quick add form of this app is populated.
In case there is no quick add form, a respective message appears and you are directed to step 2, in User forms to create a new quick add form.

See the Table

Users can apply the following actions in the table workflow apps:

Access the table (based on the access rights that are specified by the designer)
Print or export the table results
Apply filters, categorize, and search within each table
Access, edit, or delete each record
View records in table, kanban, or graph views
In the graph view, pie, bar, or stack charts can be easily created with real-time data and the desired filtering.
To view the User Apps you created and published through App Designer, follow these steps:
1. On the left side of your screen, locate the menu.
2. Select either the Packages Icon or the Header Menu you chose in Step 1 of App Designer.
3. A list of all the published apps will be displayed here, categorized based on your Category selection in Step 1 of App Designer.
4. If no category is chosen, the app will be shown under “Packages”.

Select the one you wish to access and it will open in a new tab.

By clicking on the “+” icon you can create a new entry of this app. (In order to see the “+” icon, you should have checked first the respective option in the Configuration step of App Designer). A new tab opens with the form that was created in the App Designer. Fill in the fields and click on Save to add this entry.

See the Record

In a workflow app, the record looks as below:

In the process record, you will see all the default Process summary forms and any main forms you have created in the App Designer step 2.

- Since the App is process-based and linked with a workflow it will have a State (Opened, Scheduled, Running, etc.) and also some more Tabs in the left-side menu, such as Workflow tasks, attachments, and workflow audit.
  - Keep in mind that the process state needs to be “Running” in order for the workflow to start.
  - Every time a new task is assigned to a user, the user will be notified in his calendar. The user can open the task and view the connected form (if any). Once the task is completed, the workflow moves on to the next step.
  - Click on the tab “Workflow tasks” to see the tasks that have been created so far in a table grid. In particular, you can view which task is completed, by whom, when, and its scheduled and actual duration.

- - Get real-time data for every workflow step via the Workflow Run Diagram, which is the graphical representation of the entire workflow design that highlights the completed and pending steps in different colors along with start and end times and the paths that the flow follows.

The post Workflow application appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Business Rules

Comidor team — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 08:20:18 +0000

Comidor offers a variety of features in order to apply business rules in processes and custom apps to cover any possible scenario and to enhance the capabilities of your apps and workflows.

In particular, you can include the following business rules:

Gateways
Conditional flow
Field rules
Field validations
Shell commands
Scripts before save

Gateways

One of the business rules in a workflow is Gateways.

A gateway is used to determine the branching, forking, merging, and joining of paths drawn by sequence flow. In Comidor we have Exclusive, Inclusive, and Parallel gateways.

Inclusive (OR) Gateway: Inclusive Gateway refers to activating one or more flows when dividing. For incoming, all paths may be taken/fulfilled, from one to all.
Parallel (AND) Gateway (Fork/Join): Parallel Gateway refers to dividing into two or more flows (fork). For incoming flows, the parallel gateway waits for all incoming flows before continuing (join).
Exclusive (XOR) Gateway: Exclusive Gateway refers to choosing “either/or” and limits the outcome to exactly one single flow of the output branches.

Conditional Flow

Through Conditional Flows, you can connect your workflow elements (activities, gateways, or events) and design any possible/desired alternative path. For example, once a Task is created you should connect it with the previous element with a Conditional Flow. In the conditional flow form:

Drag and drop a conditional flow from a Start Event to an Activity and select the Target State, which is the initial state of the target activity (state can be Scheduled or Running). Type a brief description of the conditional flow to help users in understanding this part of the workflow.
Drag-and-drop a conditional flow from an Activity/Gateway and select the Source State and Target State, which are the trigger state (can be completed/failed/canceled) and impact state (can be scheduled/running/paused/completed/canceled/failed), respectively.
Conditions can be added in both cases from the Advanced Conditions tab/Custom condition builder. Add further conditions through custom condition builder using either database system fields or any custom user fields you have created in User fields and have added in a User form.
In more complicated workflows, there might be a need to combine and use more complex Advanced conditions. In these cases, the workflow checks more conditions as you can see below. Click on icons “<“,”>” to add a parenthesis before or after the condition you want, and select AND, OR between the conditions in each case accordingly. With the “+” and “-” buttons you can add or delete a condition.

Once the above step(s) have been completed, a conditional flow with your brief description is added to your workflow design between the standard start event and the task you have created or between activities/gates.

Diamonds in the conditional flow refer to Source state and arrows to Target State, blue: Running, green: Completed, black/white: Canceled, red: Failed, grey: Scheduled, orange: Paused.

Field Rules

Another type of business rule is available both in workflows & the app designer, for process and non-process enabled apps.

The field rules functionality enables you to hide or show fields inside forms when certain conditions are met.

Create custom condition scenarios for fields and select in which scenario the fields are going to be shown or hidden.
Select more than one scenario – field condition for a specific field. This enables you to cover multiple scenarios.
Eliminate the number of forms that need to be created and make your adjustments to one simple form.
Hide sensitive information which should be displayed only for certain users, roles, or groups in a workflow.

To access Field Rules go to the App Factory icon > Workflow Automation > Workflows. Access the Workflow you are working on and select the tab Field Rules.

Create Field Rules

To create a new Field Rule press on the “+” button, and a creation form opens.

Give a Rule title
Select the Action to be performed: you can either Hide or Show a field
Choose the name of the User Field that you wish to perform the above action to
Set in which Form you wish this rule to be applied (from the user forms that the selected field is displayed)
Select the desired Save option (refer to Quick Reference Guide)

Custom Condition Builder

After saving the Field Rule, and while being at the view form, you can add conditions.

Click on the ‘+’ icon to insert a new row
Select the unit that the field comes from (Process, Application name, etc.)
Choose the Name of the Field and its value
Use AND, OR, and parenthesis to form your conditions
After adding all the rows of conditions you need, click on the Publish condition button.

Manage Field Rules

If you want to make any changes to a Field Rule, simply select the respective Field Rule and click on the pencil icon.
After making any changes click on Save.
In order to change the conditions, simply make the changes you wish in the view form of the Field Rule, and then, press the Publish condition.
You can Delete one or more Field Rules, by multi-checking them in the Field Rules table and then clicking on Delete.

Field Validation

This kind of business rule can be applied both to process-enabled and non-process-enabled apps.

In the form designer, you can set desired properties to each user field:

The value on the “Pattern” field should be a “Regular Expression” in order to validate the input data on the field. The “Pattern Error Message” field is the custom error message that should be displayed if the validation fails.

Links for creating and testing “Regular Expressions”: https://regexr.com/ and https://www.regular-expressions.info/

Here are some examples of “Regular Expressions”:

Search for an email address: \b[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,}\b
Email field with the option to leave the field empty: ^$|^([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)@([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)\.([a-zA-Z]{2,5})$
Text field with only alphabetical characters: ^[a-zA-Z ]*$
Numeric field having only digits: ^[0-9]+$
Numeric field with only 3 digits between 1 to 9: [1-9]\d\d
Integer number that can be negative and has a maximum of 10 digits: ^\s*-?[0-9]{1,10}\s*$
Allowing the field to remain empty use this string : ^$| and then use the correct pattern.
- Note: In a non-mandatory field with a pattern, if the pattern is not set to allow the field to be left blank, the “Pattern Error Message” will be displayed.
Pattern for Greek IBAN:^GR\d{9}[0-9A-Z]{16}$ (you can find IBAN patterns in this link)

Additionally, you can hide user fields if their value is not set, or only when they have value – depending on your scenario. Choose the respective option in your form.

Shell Command & Script before save

You can add scripts to a workflow design within forms to the “script before save” section and/or to the Shell Command component of the workflow design.

Scripts can also be added in the form of non-process enabled apps in the app builder.

When adding a Shell Command you can define that:

The Title is one of the required fields.
The Parent Stage is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
The Shell Type, selecting between Unix (sh), Windows (cmd), Windows (Powershell), Platon script, Sikuli script.
The Shell Script Variables by giving the Key, the Field (Runtime value), and its Value.
Tip: By clicking on the “+” button you can add as many keys as required or needed.
The Shell Script Body text.
The Shell Response.

If you add a script within forms to the “script before save” section, the script will run after the user saves the form/completes a task with this form.

We commonly add a “script before save” to check the user’s input and populate error messages. For example, we can include if statements to check the values of fields, assign values to fields, and many more.

This removes the need to add a shell script to the workflow.

For more info regarding scripting please contact us at support@comidor.com.

The post Business Rules appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

11 Marketing Automation Workflow Examples

Comidor Team — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 13:38:57 +0000

Marketing automation is the future of marketing. It enables marketers to handle their social media, email campaigns, and other daily marketing activities in a more automated and convenient way. For instance, you can set up an auto-responder to send discounts to people who buy during that time frame if you’re making a sale on your website. It will save you so much time because it’s all done automatically. Marketing automation is also great for small businesses because they don’t have time or money to hire someone just for these things.

In this article, we aim to walk you through the top 11 marketing automation workflow examples to give you an overview of how workflow automation can benefit your marketing activities.

1. Automate Greeting Messages

A welcome email is a must for subscribers who sign up for your content, and it creates the foundation of a lasting relationship with your subscribers. Moreover, it lays out some ground rules from day one – which means you should make sure it’s perfect. This workflow example shows how easily these emails can be automated, with fewer variables involved than other examples in this guide. Additionally, as part of the onboarding process, it’s essential to set up DMARC to enhance email deliverability and security, ensuring that your welcome emails reach subscribers’ inboxes reliably

2. Automate Gated Content Offering

Lead generation is a two-way street. You need to give your prospective customers more than just information, and you also have to ask what they think. Curious about one of the most efficient ways to go with? Gated content – whereby providing something valuable in exchange (like downloadable e-books or webinars) users will provide their contact details and other helpful data such as company name, phone, etc.

Simple example: people who want to study French can give your CRM an email and get a PDF file with the most commonly used words. This kind of automation is simple and easy to be implemented.

3. Automate Lead Management

Marketing automation can make nurturing new leads more accessible and more effective. Lead nurturing aims to guide potential customers toward a conversion, which starts at the earliest possible point in their sales funnel. Your marketing workflow should start with subscriptions or requests for demos from subscribing users – this way, you can inform them about what products will best suit their needs and provide incentives that motivate people into taking action!

4. Automate Getting Feedback

Client feedback is a valuable tool for improving customer service and building trust. With an automated workflow that collects customer satisfaction data, you can gather information much more efficiently. First, decide what touchpoint should trigger the request to provide feedback- maybe it’s when someone purchases something from you? Perhaps they have some other interactions that led them here today to look into how we work. Whatever their reason might be, telling us about themselves will help tailor our communication accordingly. This helps avoid gaps between what we say after hearing from them vs. reading social media posts where people leave comments.

5. Automate Onboarding

It’s essential to onboard new employees or customers with automated emails that will help them use your site or product. You could send these follow-ups after they create an account or purchase from you, depending on when best for their needs concerning signing up and making purchases with other companies’ services/products rather than having everything come at once. It might be overwhelming if too much information was given all at once instead of gradually introducing people into what you do or offer. Hence, they know step by step how things work before going any further!

6. Automate Offers

Personalized campaigns are a great way to build loyalty and keep top-of-mind with clients, especially if you offer rewards that they might find motivating, such as discounts on future purchases!

7. Automate User Acquisition (UA)

A re-engagement marketing workflow will help boost engagement with your content and products. The first step is to define an inactive user who may have been subscribed for a while without opening any emails or buying anything from you in that period – they could be on vacation or busy being productive elsewhere!

Reach out sooner rather than later by defining how long it has been since someone last responded before entering their contact details into this system so we can get back into touch again soon.

8. Automate Marketing Campaigns

With the right strategy, you can successfully deliver new marketing campaigns. It requires the appropriate planning and management of the work that should be done before the campaign execution. Another important factor is the effective collaboration among the team members that participate in the project. An automated workflow helps Sales, Marketing, Advertising, and Communication teams to manage efficiently their time, meet deadlines, optimize marketing processes and achieve remarkable results. Moreover, managers are able to approve marketing material and take fast decisions, while the whole team is kept updated on the marketing campaign progress.

9. Automate After-sales with Ticket routing automation

All customer service automation relies on a well-organized and well-thought-out knowledge base. Connect your resource center to your current customer service channels, such as chatbot support. Modern internet platforms for assisting individuals are frequently combined with information sources in order to provide even more support in less time.

Chatbots are rapidly advancing, but they are still confined to dealing with basic customer request tickets. More complex issues should still be handled by your staff, but intelligent automation is an important component of building a ticket routing system that can accommodate your growing customer base.

10. Automate Lead Scoring

You always want to know which contacts are the most promising leads and how close they are to purchasing. You can quickly identify these prospects with just one small data point with lead scoring! It is assigning points based on prospective customers’ behavior – this helps better target marketing efforts to be more effective at converting them into sales or other actions that will generate revenue.

11. Automate Video Creation

The act of employing a video editing tool to automatically produce short, engaging films you can use for marketing and promoting your content is known as automated video creation. Sifting through hours of long-form material to discover highlights and memorable moments may rapidly become time-consuming if you’re producing many pieces of long-form content each week.

You can consistently produce unique, high-quality videos by automating that process. As a result, you can swiftly test novel marketing methods while adding diversity to your content. You may quickly A/B test several format types or compare two highlights to discover which connects most with your audience. For instance, modern-day video editing websites allow users to convert text to video. This helps to automate the creation of videos from blogs.

Achieving Marketing Automation with Comidor

If you are ready to build your own marketing automation workflows, look no further than Comidor. Comidor has all the tools you need to achieve the ultimate marketing automation, from lead generation and management to customer journey automation and campaign planning, execution & monitoring. Contact Comidor today to learn more about the tools that can help you accelerate marketing automation!

Summary

The tips we have mentioned in this article should help you to create a marketing strategy that works. You can use these principles for automation and data-driven decision-making, which will lead to more sales and less wasted time on ineffective strategies.

Author bio:
Ryan is a passionate blogger and writer who likes sharing his thoughts and. Now he works as a content editor and internet researcher, you can check his website. He likes to travel and explore new countries.

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The post 11 Marketing Automation Workflow Examples appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

6 Common Workflow Automation Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

Comidor Team — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 10:39:04 +0000

More and more companies are embracing the benefits of technologies like workflow management and workflow automation. When implemented properly, workflow automation can drastically improve productivity and boost efficiency. In addition to streamlining various processes, automation also saves employees from performing tedious and repetitive tasks. By enabling employees to accomplish more with less time, automation also reduces costs for businesses. Due to its benefits, many companies eagerly adopt automation without sufficient planning. This often leads to workflow automation mistakes. Fortunately, most of the common workflow automation errors have quick and easy solutions. If you want to avoid costly errors, here are six of the most common workflow automation mistakes and ways to avoid them.

Not Researching The Right Processes To Automate

Whether a company adopted automation eagerly to keep up with its competitors or as a quick solution to problems with efficiency, rushing into automation can be a costly mistake. Identifying the best processes to automate is crucial if you want to maximize the benefits of your investment. Failing to do this, might inadvertently result in automating a process that didn’t require automation in the first place. Companies that automate wrong are unlikely to see improvements in their productivity. They essentially render their expensive investment useless.

As a business, take the time to learn about automation and its current applications. Afterward, evaluate your existing processes to determine which processes can be efficiently automated. Consider which processes would benefit the most and achieve the best results with automation. Taking the time to plan your automation strategy before implanting it can save you a lot of time, money, and effort.

Automating Based On Profit Not Improvement

It’s understandable why a business would want to automate the processes that would produce the most profit. Automation is after all designed to increase productivity and in turn, maximize profits. However, it’s a mistake to ignore processes that require improvement in favor of those that can generate the most revenue. Making the mistake of focusing solely on profits might be beneficial in the short term, but it’s highly inefficient in the long run.

Instead, focus on automating processes that ease the workload of your employees. Automate processes that improve the safety and efficiency of production. Consider the long-term implications of your automation strategy. Adapting this future-oriented, improvement-based plan for automation will likely be more profitable anyways.

Automating Everything All At Once

Many companies rush into automation in the hopes of either catching up or staying ahead of their competitors. This can be extremely overwhelming for the company and its employees. The mistake of automating several processes at once can result in confusion and mistakes. While you appear to be progressing faster by quickly implementing automation, you’re actually slowing down your real progress. Careless adaptation of automation does not yield the same results as a proper implementation that helps employees get familiar with the technology.

Instead of automating several processes at once, consider focusing on just one workflow, first. By automating this single workflow, you can understand more about automation and solve any issues that arise. This also gives your team the opportunity to learn about the process well and adjust to it.

Investing In Data Collection But Not Analysis

As data proves to be increasingly valuable to businesses across all industries, companies are excitedly investing in automated data collection processes. While it’s important to invest in data, it’s equally as important to understand it. “Many businesses spend a substantial amount of money on data infrastructure, but forget to invest in insights,” warns Kelly Parks, a business writer at Paper Writing Service. “Your data is only as good as your ability to pull meaningful pieces of information from it.”

Without insights, data is essentially worthless. Data insights allow companies to gain valuable information about customers and their preferences. This well-informed decision-making gives companies an advantage over their competitors. Thus, it’s crucial to invest in the analysis and interpretation of data as much as its collection.

Not Asking An Expert To Guide Your Transition

Despite its ability to streamline and simplify work processes, workflow automation can be complicated to implement without an expert. Some companies attempt to save money by skipping out on expert consultation. This is a huge workflow automation mistake for many businesses especially those who have never automated their workflow before. Expert guidance allows companies to take advantage of the full potential of automation. Refusing to hire an expert means missing out on the full applications and the best approaches to automating your workflow processes.

Instead of trying to implement workflow automation blind, consult with an expert to make the transition as seamless as possible. This allows your company to take full advantage of automation and its benefits. It’s vital to mention, that in addition to expert guidance, the choice of the best workflow automation software vendor is important, too. The workflow management system of your choice should meet your business needs to make your business life easier.

Forgetting To Re-evaluate Processes

Some companies make the mistake of adopting automation for a workflow process and then never revaluating it again. If you want to have a leading edge over your competitors, it’s crucial to continuously evaluate and search for new ways to optimize your workflow. Improving efficiency is a never-ending process, not a one-time goal you accomplish and forget about.

Conclusion

Transitioning into automation can be an overwhelming process for a lot of companies and workers. Making mistakes is unavoidable in the learning process. However, by avoiding these common workflow automation mistakes, you save your company a lot of wasted time, effort, and money.

Find out how Comidor Workflow Automation can accelerate your business!

The post 6 Common Workflow Automation Mistakes And How To Avoid Them appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Simplifying Workflow Automation with Low-Code

Comidor Team — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 16:00:50 +0000

As your business grows, you need a way to bridge the gap between technology and processes. This allows you to scale your business and drive success. But building custom automation solutions and integrations isn’t always easy.

You need to take into account the complexities of the processes, the limitations of your IT department, the available budget, and your organizational objectives. Luckily, Low-Code simplifies workflow automation.

Continue reading and explore why Low-Code platforms simplify workflow automation and how it works.

What Is Low Code?

Low-Code platforms remove the complexity out of building custom applications from scratch by minimizing code and using a visual interface to create business applications. Whether you need to integrate systems, automate processes, or build a custom application to meet your customer needs, Low-Code allows you to do it faster and cheaper than traditional application development. Traditional application development can take months and cost six or seven figures. Sadly, many of these custom applications fail. Others go way over budget.

Why?

Building applications from scratch involves a lot of people and time-consuming processes. The application needs to be mapped out, approved, built and ran through several rounds of testing before it goes live. These applications are often built in the backend, so the programming knowledge of the end-user is limited, at best. And because of the time lag from inception to completion, the issue they address can more or less change altogether by the time the application launches.

How Fast Is Low Code?

Low-Code is much faster than traditional application development because it removes a lot of the steps involved in the process. Once you have a road map for process improvement, you can train a few team members on the Low-Code platform of your choice. From there, you can build the custom applications you need in a matter of hours or days, not months. Low-Code supports rapid application development because it removes the need to build line after line of code. In most cases, you can drag and drop or deploy prefabricated code into a platform quickly. The end result uses far less code, meaning that testing and launching a new app can happen faster. (Roughly 6 to 20 times faster in many cases.)

How Does Low Code Make Workflow Automation Simple?

Every business relies on a vast network of workflows to complete tasks. Each workflow has its own set of steps that require data entry, storage, and transfer between (often disparate) systems. As a business grows, these inefficient systems multiply. The need to meet customer expectations while remaining competitive puts an incredible strain on organizations. The quick solution many choose is simply to hire more employees and use spreadsheets and email to bridge the gaps between systems. But spreadsheets are not suitable for databases. And email is not an efficient way to manage projects. Consequently, when they’re used together, you end up with an inefficient mess that puts your business more at risk.

Low-Code removes the need for spreadsheets and email chains to manage automation projects. Instead, you can automate workflows and build custom integrations and applications that bridge the gaps between systems and help you offer more features to your customers. The end result is a more efficient, competitive business.

Examples of Workflow Automation

Procurement process

In a standard procurement process, there are several steps and systems involved. Every human touchpoint opens the door for human error and slowdowns. The goal of workflow automation is to optimize the process by removing human touchpoints. With the right procurement software and Low-Code integrations, you can completely transform your procurement process. You can automate inventory management, track vendors and invoices in your system, and manage orders with ease. For example, if an item is running low, your system will alert your staff of low inventory. If the order value is within budget, the system will order the item automatically in the right quantity from a specific vendor. If it’s above budget, a manager or VP will receive a notification that they need to approve the order (which they can quickly and easily do with a digital signature.) From there, the system places the order and the vendor delivers the goods. Once received, the quality is assured and the system tracks vendor performance. If the goods meet standards, the order is approved, and the invoice is automatically paid. This entire process is handled within one connected system, giving you real-time data and insights into your entire procurement process. Plus, you can evaluate vendor performance and relationships and leverage your supply chain to give your business the edge.

Invoice approval process

Even the invoice approval process can be inefficient and time-consuming, especially when a huge amount of data is involved and the process includes many steps before the final approval is received. Usually, cases like this, are performed manually using Excel files and sending numerous emails, thus lacking the necessary tracking in order to keep the entire team up to date. The goal of Comidor was to fully automate the invoice approval process by building rapidly a powerful workflow with Low-Code. With the right tools like RPA for automatic document creation, our client has achieved a reduction in human errors, elimination of paper-based tasks, and full traceability and visibility over the approval requests. The entire process automation was achieved in less than 14 days, offering a state-of-the-art solution.

5 Immediate Benefits of Low Code

There are numerous benefits to using Low-Code to automate workflows in your business. Understanding what they are will help you successfully navigate change management and help you get more from the Low-Code Automation Platform.

Low-Code makes automation easy by democratizing software development throughout your organization. With more people empowered to create solutions, they can share their daily insights and built the tools they need to automate workflows with Low-Code.
Low-Code is not a roadway to replace your developers: Instead, it can free up your IT department to focus on more important tasks. Rather than playing whack-a-mole with endless tickets, they can focus on high-value projects.
Low-Code is cost-effective: As a SaaS platform, you’ll typically follow a SaaS pricing model. That means you’ll pay a subscription fee and a fee based on how much of the platform you use.
Low-Code solutions are reusable: Rather than built solutions from scratch over and over again, your team can quickly reuse what’s been made to connect other systems. This makes it even workflow automation even faster.
Low-Code is secure: Tools like Excel lack the essential security features needed to protect your customer data. Low-Code platforms are incredibly secure and have systems in place to protect your customer data.

Why You Need Low-Code for Workflow Automation

People are very inefficient at some tasks. For example, menial, boring tasks like data entry. We make errors with transferring data and we forget important information along the way. These errors can be costly.

What’s more, the need to exceed customer expectations continues to rise. Your customers expect more from you. And to deliver on those expectations, you need the right applications with the right features. But, you also have to connect those applications and their data to other systems in your business.

The only way to scale your business fast enough is to have the ability to build and connect new systems faster. Low-Code is your best option to make that happen.

Transform your business with Comidor Low-Code and Workflow Automation

Although the business world is becoming more and more demanding, advanced technology and innovation can become the essential weapon for businesses that are seeking improvement opportunities and the best approaches to scale and thrive. Comidor Low-Code Platform comes with all the necessary tools and unlimited functionalities to automate end-to-end business processes and workflows and build composable applications.

Contact Comidor to explore how you can extend beyond workflow automation with Low-Code and transform your business today.

Author’s Bio
Kevin Shuler is the CEO of Quandary Consulting Group, a team of tech consultants that specialize in business process management. They use integrations and automation to help businesses scale as they grow, giving them more time to focus on what matters most.

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The post Simplifying Workflow Automation with Low-Code appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Using Risk Management to Improve Workflow Automation

Comidor Team — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 13:50:26 +0000

In most situations, workflow automation and risk management could be the solution to every organization as they address problems with little to no flaws, enabling thus organizations to keep their customers satisfied. This means that having efficient product delivery, reduced downtimes, and stellar customer support could help set you apart from the competition.

However, being the company your customers want isn’t always an easy feat. It requires making and implementing the hard decisions that can get you from point A to B. In case anything is holding your back from success, you should control it, if not eliminate it.

While workflow automation and risk management are often used apart, they work best when implemented in tandem. Automating workflows will elevate your risk management goals and vice versa. The trick is finding the right way to combine both practices.

Here is what you should know about using workflow automation and risk management to build a better future for your business.

What Is Risk Management?

Risk management is the process of evaluating the common threats to your business and looking for ways to mitigate them. It involves deciding on the best alternative for eliminating an issue without demanding too much effort from your resources. Among the best ways to understand your risk landscape is to involve your entire team in the decision-making process since your staff best understands the kind of risks your business goes through.

Why Risk Management Matters For Business

Risk is a necessary evil for doing business. However, businesses are successful when they can best adapt and adjust to their risky environment. Sure, you can always invest in industry-accepted cookie-cutter solutions for the different risks, but this can be a slippery slope. It isn’t necessary for a solution that works for another business to work for your business too.

You could be operating in completely different risk landscapes with other businesses in your industry. For instance, your business could be targeting a completely different demographic in comparison to other businesses in the industry. Risk management ensures that you understand the different aspects of your risk landscape.

It takes into account your current resources, including manpower, finances, and partnerships. With risk management, you can also account for your current risk tolerances. In turn, this makes it easy to choose tailor-made risk mitigation solutions that will work best for your business and combine workflow automation and risk management.

What Is Workflow Automation?

Workflow automation is the process of designing a hands-free approach to commonly manual business tasks. Repeating these tasks can be not only mundane but also time-consuming. However, these tasks are necessary for your business to thrive. Automation can be achieved by deploying software or machines to eliminate the human side of doing a task.

Why Workflow Automation Matters

Automated workflows easily comply with your business needs. If tasks are automated, human error is greatly reduced. It becomes less possible for you to miss important parts of a process or even make miscalculations. Often, people make such errors while being inattentive to the tasks at hand.

Automating your workflows also increases the level of visibility for specific tasks. For instance, if you use invoicing software, tracking invoices for specific dates becomes a walk in the park.

Lastly, automation shifts your focus towards the more demanding business tasks. The fact that automated tasks don’t require an employee to do them could be advantageous. In turn, this frees up time and manpower to cater to other core business tasks. Your business could also cut costs by choosing to automate some of its tasks.

How Risk Management and Automation Could Elevate Each Other

Workflow automation comes with a variety of risks. For instance, if you choose to use security alerts to spot cybersecurity risks, you will be accepting the risk of having some false positives. Without controlling such a risk, your team can spend endless hours trying to manage non-existent threats. Risk management ensures that you can automate your workflows while limiting the inherent risk of your chosen solutions.

On the flip side, the risk management process can be quite mundane at times. It could require you to do a couple of manual tasks from time to time, whereas automating these tasks would suffice. For instance, a compliance officer will need to constantly remind staff members of any overdue compliance tasks. Since sending email threads back and forth can be time-consuming, automating the process will save everyone time.

However, succeeding at both tasks requires having all hands on deck. Your employees need to understand the role they play in mitigating specific risks. They should also know that automating some parts of the workflow could benefit overall customer satisfaction rates. Taking time to educate employees is pivotal to achieving different organizational goals.

Your organization’s future isn’t set in stone. With the right combination of workflow automation and risk management, you can design a bright future for your business. Both practices allow you to be more in control of your business.

Are you interested in learning more about workflow automation?

CONTINUE

Are you interested in learning more about workflow automation?

CONTINUE

The post Using Risk Management to Improve Workflow Automation appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Workflow Components

Comidor team — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 15:03:49 +0000

With Comidor BPMN 2.0 designer, you can map and optimize every process that takes place in your company. Comidor provides a plethora of workflow components such as basic, integration, data, RPA, and code components to cover every possible need. Easily drag and drop any component, connect the elements between them to draw the alternative paths, and add any automation features like an automated email or an automated document creation.

To access Workflows, click on App Factory Icon > Process Automation > Process Designs.

Open a record, and click on the tab Design.

Workflow Components

Basic Components:

Comidor offers the following BPMN 2.0 basic workflow components:

- Tasks and escalations
- Subprocess
- Email
- SMS
- Notification
- Timer
- AND/OR/XOR gateways
- Annotation
- End

Integration Components:

Additionally, designers cover their integration needs with the following workflow components:

- RESTful Web Service
- OpenAI ChatGPT
- Message Queue
- Teams integration
- Google integration
- Zoho projects API
- Zoho leads API
- Freshdesk API
- Salesforce API

Data Components:

Designers use low-code data workflow components for data input and output.

- Comidor DATA (insert/update/delete)
- Shell Command
- File Reader
- Export Data
- Convert Data
- Digital Signature
- Document Creator
- QR Generator
- Table Extractor
- Excel Processor
- Graph Creator
- Blockchain

RPA Workflow Components:

Other workflow components can be added within the workflow design to enhance automation in business processes with RPA and ML/AI. Those components are:

- RPA Caller/ Receiver
- Sentiment Analysis
- Document Analyzer
- Text Classification
- Predictive ML
- Selenium RPA
- Image Classification
- Web Scraper

Code Components:

Users without development skills can add the following workflow code components into the workflow designs to replace commands and queries:

- Set values
- Existence check
- SQL Creator
- String Utilities
- JSON Array to Excel
- Deserialize JSON
- Custom Component

Let’s zoom in on each workflow component.

Basic Components
Task

In the Task component, add the Basic attributes:
- The title of the task, which is one of the required fields.
- The Parent Stage, refers to the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is fulfilled.
- The Assigner’s name (Assigned From), selecting from a list that includes Process Creator, Admin, Assignee’s Manager, or other users.
- The Assignee’s name (Assigned To), selecting from a wide list of options (Abstract Options: Creator or Personnel of Process, Creator’s or Personnel Manager, Creator’s or Personnel Default group from Organizational Chart/Users’ Groups, Creator’s or Personnel Default group – Leader, Creator’s or Personnel Default group – Parent Group, Creator’s or Personnel Default group – Parent Group Leader, Role associated with a specific Functional Group/Division/Company, Account’s Responsible or Pre-defined options: User(s) name, Group Leader name(s), Group names).
- The Form, where you connect any User Form (that is already created).
- Click on more options and more attributes are displayed:
  - Complete the Start point, Endpoint, and Stage fields, and that information will be visible in the Business Process Guidelines of this task.
  - Select the dynamic assignment option between users, groups, leaders, and excluding leaders.
  - Dynamic assignment, select the next assignee from a list of assignee user fields(list free field that fetches users).
  - Exception Assignees, where you define to whom the task will be assigned if other rules set above (group leader, role, etc) do not fetch any user.
  - Option to Filter group assignments according to main process assignees, meaning that a selection of “Assigned to” will be filtered according to what is added in the Main Process “Assigned to” field.
  - Task type (work, appointment, meeting, event, etc.).
  - Define a user Activity related to this task.
  - Parent Completion Percent (%) is the completion percentage of the parent process once the current activity is completed.
  - Link this task with a Mobile form.
  - File, where you attach a draft of a File already uploaded in Comidor.
In the Advanced tab:
- - Define the RACI of the current task: Responsible user, Accountable user, Consulted user, and Informed user.
    
    This information is visible in the RACI report as well.
  - Link one or more KPIs with this task. Select from the list and click Add. In the Connected KPIs, you see the linked KPIs and remove records if you wish.
  - Approve/Reject Email Task in case you want this step to be completed via mail.
    
    In this case, you should define the Email Task body and the recipient in Addresses, either as a specific email address or in a text field of the workflow. You can also choose one or more binary fields to be sent as attachments in the task email.
  - Do not display the default form option, the basic information of the task is hidden and by selecting a custom user form above, you show the user only the important information based on your design.
Other attributes regarding the Scheduling of the task are:
- Scheduled Start Date, Scheduled End Date, and times: Change the Scheduling of this task, by defining the respective date and time workflow fields.
  - Leave those fields empty if you wish the task to have a Scheduled Start Date the date of task creation.
- Activity boundaries by setting the Maximum days or Maximum hours of this task duration.
  - Tip: In case you want to associate this task’s completion with the end of the whole workflow, you may put a negative numbering i.e. “-5” meaning 5 days before workflow completion.
- Mandatory task duration field, where you ensure that the user completes the actual duration before task completion.
- Priority and Importance of this task.
Work Practice: describe the Activity that should be performed. Add plain text or use an HTML editor.
- This information is visible in the task’s description and the Business Process Guidelines.
In the tab Attachments, designers upload one or more files that are related to this step. Anyone with access to the process design can view the attachments.

SubProcess

In the SubProcess component, you can fill in most of the fields (as explained in Task), but also the following:
- Type: Generic Process, Project, Opportunity, Event, Training, Issue, Ticket, Topic, Job Posting, Campaign, or any custom Application.
- Process type: refers to the Process Map Category selected.
- Workflow: a Call-Activity (another Workflow with other activities) creating a collapsed subprocess can be added here.
Connectors: Sequence/Conditional Flow

Through Conditional Flows, you connect your workflow elements (activities, gateways, or events) and design any possible/desired alternative path. For example, once a Task is created you should connect it with the previous element with a Conditional Flow. In the conditional flow form:
- Drag and drop a conditional flow from a Start Event to an Activity and select the Target State, which is the initial state of the target activity (state can be Scheduled or Running). Type a brief description of the conditional flow that will help users in understanding this part of the workflow.
- Drag and drop a conditional flow from an Activity/Gateway and select the Source State and Target State, which are the trigger state (can be completed/failed/cancelled) and impact state (can be scheduled/running/paused/completed/cancelled/failed), respectively.
- Conditions can be added in both cases from the Advanced Conditions tab/Custom condition builder. Add further conditions through a custom condition builder using either database system fields or any custom user fields you have created in User fields and have added in a User form.
- In more complicated workflows, there might be a need to combine and use more complex Advanced conditions. In these cases, the workflow will check more conditions as shown below. Click on icons “<“,”>” to add parenthesis before or after the condition you want, and select AND, OR between the conditions in each case accordingly. With the “+” and “-” button you add or delete a condition.
Once the above step(s) have been completed, a conditional flow with your brief description is added to your workflow design between the standard start event and the task you have created or between activities/gates.

Diamonds in the conditional flow refer to the Source state and arrows to Target State, blue: Running, green: Completed, black/white: Canceled, red: Failed, grey: Scheduled, and orange: Paused.

Email

The email component is a Throw – Message Intermediate Event. By using it, you send a custom email through each process that is related to the specific workflow. When adding an email element in workflows you can set:
- The Title, which is one of the required fields.
- The Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- The Variables, that will appear inside the body of the e-mail. For example, set a variable Key for the Title field of the Process, or another database or custom field. Then use the key of the variable in the email subject or body with ##. When the email is sent, the variable key will be replaced with the value of the field.
- The Sender, should be a predefined text and/or a custom text type field (probably already given in a custom form).
- The Subject, can be a predefined text and/or a custom text type field (probably already given in a custom form).
  - Tip: in case of adding both predefined and custom text, the predefined text appears first and the custom one follows.
- The Email Body, may be a predefined text and/or custom memo-type field.
  Tip: in case of adding both predefined text and custom memo, the custom memo appears first and the predefined text follows.
- For more advanced users: you can provide more details in your email body and create a paragraph, or just a sentence with data that were acquired during the process of creation. In particular, you may use the variables you have already set in a sentence with #key# as shown below. You can also apply HTML code for changing the size, the font, and the colors of your message.
- The Recipients as:
  - Addresses that can be a predefined text with email addresses separated with a comma and/or one or more custom text type field(s) with email addresses.
  - Emails of process-related people and/or roles. These people can be users involved in the workflow, users with a specific role(s), any other users, leaders of groups, or all the members of groups.
  - The dynamic recipient option is also available. Select the dynamic assignment option between users, groups, leaders, and excluding leaders. Dynamic assignment, select the recipient from a list of assignee user fields(list free field that fetches users).
- Attachments as custom binary type fields, or a hardcoded file from your computer.
Emails are connected with other events/gateways/activities using conditional flow.

SMS

Send SMS Notifications in Workflows, provided you have an SMS service provider. Configure the following:
- The title, which is one of the required fields.
- The Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Type the SMS Gateway URL, Username, Password, and API Key (authentication key), as provided by the Service provider.
- Your text is displayed as the Sender of the SMS and the Recipient’s Phone number.
- The Recipients, who can be users involved in the workflow, users with a specific role(s), any other individual users, leaders of groups, or all the members of groups.
- Also, type the SMS message in the Text message.
Notifications can be connected with other events/gateways/activities using conditional flow.

Notifications

Set System Notifications in Workflows defining:
- The title, which is one of the required fields.
- The Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Variables that will appear inside the subject. For example, set a variable Key for the Title field of the Process, or for another database or custom field. Then use the key of the variable in the subject ##. When the notification is sent, the variable key will be replaced with the value of the field.
- The Subject, which can be a predefined text and/or a custom text type field.
- The Recipients can be users involved in the workflow, users with a specific role(s), any other individual users, leaders of groups, or all the members of groups. Limit the recipients’ list by adding a role.
- The dynamic recipient option is also available. Select the dynamic assignment option between users, groups, leaders, and excluding leaders. Dynamic assignment, select the recipient from a list of assignee user fields(list free field that fetches users).
Notifications can be connected with other events/gateways/activities using conditional flow.

Timer

You can use a Timer to add a delay in your workflow by completing the below basic fields:
- The title, which is one of the required fields.
- The Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Define the Region from the list of available Regional Settings, to exclude non-working days and public holidays from the delay.
- The delay in days or hours, filling in the corresponding field.
- Alternatively, a specific date for the timer to wait or a Date field that is used within the workflow.
The Timer can be connected with other events/gateways/activities using conditional flow.

Annotations

With the Comidor BPMN 2.0 workflow designer, you can add comments to your design. This allows you to explain in detail what is the use of certain tasks or apply a description.
- Drag and drop the Comment element.
- In Your comments field, type your comment.
- If you wish, connect your comment with the desired component(s).
- In case you want to modify your comment, click on the pencil icon and proceed accordingly.
Integration Components
REST

When adding a RESTful Web Service define:
- The Title, which is one of the required fields.
- The Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- The URL of the resource.
  - You can either add a hardcoded URL, or select a URL field from the list. Ensure the selected field has a value before sending the REST request.
- The Method, by selecting from GET, POST, or POST FORM.
- If you require certificates, please select the option and provide the paths for the private and public keys.
- The Request Header Parameters by giving the Parameter Name and its Value.
- The Request Body by specifying the Key and its Value as the run-time value of a custom field or predefined value.
  Tip: By clicking on the “+” button you can add as many parameters or keys as required or needed.
  - Alternatively, you can add a JSON in the Free Text Request Body.
- The JSON response map by populating the Key and the respective custom Field.
  - Alternatively, click the option Show Response Code, and assign a numeric field to store the Response Code and a memo/text field to store the Response Body.
  - When you are building a workflow, make sure you use the response code as a condition and plan for all possible scenarios. For example, if the response code is 200, you can proceed to the next step. However, if the response code is not 200, you should add a notification and a timer to wait for some time before retrying the request. The workflow will loop, until you get a successful response. This will help you handle any happy or unhappy scenarios that may arise during your workflow.
- In case the response includes a file, specify the file name and choose a binary field to store it.
OpenAI chatGPT

Integrate ChatGPT and DALL·E into your business processes, by dragging and dropping the OpenAI chatGPT component from the Integration Components list to the workflow design. In the attributes pop-up form, define:
- The Title, which is one of the required fields.
- The Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
  - define the type:
    
    ChatGPT
    
    DALL·E
  - For ChatGPT, choose the input; a text/memo field where the question is stored, and the Response; a memo field where the answer of the ChatGPT is saved (the previously created fields).
- For DALL·E, choose the input; a text/memo field where the image description is added, and the Response; a binary field where the produced image by DALL·E is saved.
Find out more on how to Integrate ChatGPT and DALL·E in your Business with Comidor here.

Message Queue

Read an existing Message Queue and create a new one within your workflows with the Comidor Message Queue element.
- Drag-and-drop the Message Queue element in the workflow design.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- In MQ type select MQ Reader if you wish to read an existing MQ
- Define the Host and Port where the MQ is stored in, and the Routing Key is the title of the MQ
- Add your credentials (Username and Password fields)
- In Write to: select a memo user field to store the Message Queue that will be read
- Alternatively, in the MQ type select MQ Writer if you wish to create a new MQ
- Define the Host and Port where the MQ will be stored in, and the Routing Key is the title of the MQ
- Add your credentials (Username and Password fields)
- In the Free Text Message Body type your Message that will be stored in the MQ that you have defined in the Routing Key above.
  - You can also include values of fields (e.g. #app.USR_NAME# for app fields and #this.USR_NAME# for database/process fields)
- Alternatively, click the option Hardcoded Body. A new field appears to select the user field where you have set the Value with script in a previous step.
Teams Integration
With the Teams integration workflow component, create a new event in MS Teams Calendar.
- Simply drag and drop the Teams integration component in a workflow step and specify its attributes.
- Type the Authority, Client id, Secret and the Scope.
- Define the event description, date, and time, for the task to be created in Teams Calendar as well as the user’s email.
Google Integration
With the new Google integration component, designers send API calls to Google Calendar in order to create tasks and to Google Drive in order to upload files to a specific folder.
- Simply drag and drop the Google Integration component in a workflow design and choose the Google Drive API option in API type.
- Define the folder ID to store the file in Google drive, the file, and its name; choose workflow fields from the list.
Simply drag and drop the google integration component in a workflow step, and choose the Google Calendar API option in API type.

Define the event description, date, and time, for the task to be created in Google Calendar, as well as the email; choose workflow fields from the list.
Zoho Projects API & Zoho Leads API

Easily incorporate Zoho Projects & Zoho Leads APIs with Comidor’s drag-and-drop functionality.
- Integrate with Zoho Projects
- Integrate with Zoho CRM
FreshDesk API
- Integrate with Freshdesk ticketing system with the new Freshdesk API workflow component.
- Simply add the Freshdesk API component in a workflow step, define the API attributes, and the new ticket is created including the workflow data.
Salesforce API

Create and update records in Salesforce, with the new Salesforce API workflow component.
Data Components
Comidor Data (Insert/Update/Delete)

When adding a Comidor DATA object you can define:
- The Title, which is one of the required fields.
- The Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- The Action, by selecting among Insert, Update, Delete.
- The ID Field (Runtime Value)/Value.
- The Data Map parameters, which give the Field, Field (Runtime Value), and its Value.
  Tip: By clicking on the “+” button, you add as many parameters or keys as required or needed.
- The Status and Message.
Shell Command

Include simple or more advanced scripts in your workflow with a Shell Command component:
- The Title is one of the required fields.
- The Parent Stage is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- The Shell Type, select between Unix (sh), Windows (cmd), Windows (Powershell), Platon script, and Sikuli script.
- The Shell Script Variables, give the Key, the Field (Runtime value), and its Value.
  Tip: By clicking on the “+” button you can add as many keys as required or needed.
- The Shell Script Body text.
- The Shell Response.
File Reader

With this component, Comidor enables users to check the existence of a file in a particular path and store it in a binary file.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- In Layout, there are 4 options:
  - choose Read file.
- Type the exact File Name with its extension.
- In Read From Path, select the path in which the file is stored.
- Click on the “Check Only File Existence”, if you do not need this file to be stored inside the workflow.
- Alternatively, Save to File, to select a binary field from the list where the file will be stored within the workflow.
- You can create a text field and set it as the Response field, to see the response of this component.
Secondly, users import data from a file, either from a specific path or from a binary field that is used within the workflow in a previous stage.
- In Layout, choose Import Data.
- Type the exact File Name with its extension.
- In Read From Path, select the path in which the file is stored.
- Alternatively, in Read From File, select the name of the binary field where the file is stored in.
- In Entity, define in which table you wish the data of the file to be imported (Units, Apps).
- In case you select Processes you should also define the Internal Type (General, Project, Issue, etc.).
- Define the Start to read from row No.
- Define if the CSV file Delimiter is a semicolon or comma.
- Set the Date, Time, and Number Format if you have those types of fields in the file.
- In Before Save Script, you can type any additional scripts you wish to execute before the completion of the File Reader component.
- Then, correlate the fields from the Table you have chosen with the respective columns of the CSV file.
- You can also create a text field and set it as the Response field, to see the response of this component.
Finally, there are 2 more options:
- Read text from File – use this layout when you want to upload a binary field and store its content in a memo field.
  - Save text of File to: select a text/memo field to store the text of the binary file in
  - Read text from File: select the binary field that you want to be read
- Read text from URL– use this layout when you want to read a file from a URL and store its content in a memo field.
  - Save text of File to: select a text/memo field to store the text of the URL file
  - Read text from URL: select the text field that the URL will be typed so it can be read
Export Data

With this element, users can export any data from a workflow to a CSV file and make their own reporting.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- In Entity define the table of which you wish the file data to be exported (Units, Apps).
- In case you select Processes you should also define the Internal Type (General, Project, Issue, etc).
- Select the fields you wish to be exported and displayed in the CSV file as columns.
- Type the conditions that you want to be met in your export in Where Condition.
- In Export Path, select the path that you wish the file to be stored in.
- Alternatively, in Binary, select the name of the binary field that you wish the file to be stored in.
- Give a File Name to the exported CSV.
- You can also create a text field and set it as the Response field, to see the response of this component.
Convert Data

With the Convert Data component, you can convert an excel file to CSV format and store it in a User field inside a workflow. Define the binary field, where you will upload the file, and a memo field where the content of the CSV file will be visible at.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- In Converted Type select Excel to CSV.
- In the field Convert From select the binary user field where you will upload the Excel file.
- In the Convert To: define the memo user field where the CSV will be displayed in.
Digital Signature
- Drag and drop the Digital Signature in the workflow pool.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Signature Document: choose the binary field, where the user will upload the document in PDF format without signatures. After the digital signature component runs, the selected binary field will store the PDF document with the signature included.
- Select which Model you would like to run at this step, from the list of the Signature Models that you have already created.
- User’s Signature: choose which user’s signature you want to add to your document.
- Signature position at Document: refers to the number of the signatures that you need to place in your document (e.g. 1, 2, etc.).
Document Creator

Create invoices, reports, or other types of documents by combining a file template format and fields of the workflow.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Set a Template File for your document either in a Form, or upload it in a step of the workflow in a Binary Field, or give the Template Name of a file stored in DMS.
  - Form: Select the User Form in which you have uploaded the Template Tile. (fixed template scenario)
    
    The Template file should be either .docx or .xlsx.
    
    The produced file can be either .docx, .xlsx, or .pdf.
    
    Apply format options in your template such as font colour, size, alignment, number format, etc. and they will be captured in the produced document.
- - Binary Field: Select the binary field in which the Template File will be uploaded during the workflow. (dynamic template scenario)
  - Template Name: Type the name of a file stored in DMS. Keep in mind that this file should be linked with the Account of the process in order to be used as a template file.
- Define the Variables being used in the Template File by providing the Key and its Value, as the run-time value of a custom field or predefined value.
- Set the binary field in which you wish to save the Response document.
- Check the option Return PDF if you wish the produced document to be in PDF format.
- In Status you can add a text field, to see the response of this component.
QR Generator

With the workflow component QR generator, designers generate QR codes with data defined from the workflow with no-code.

Drag and drop the QR generator component into the design and add it to a workflow step.
- Define the following:
  - Check the Dynamic field option and choose a text field from the list in the input.
  - Alternatively, leave it unchecked and type your input if you want to add hardcoded text.
  - The produced QR code is stored in a binary workflow field in .png format. Define the desired binary in the Response.
- Display the QR code in the main process form, either as an attachment of an email triggered by the workflow or as part of a produced document from the document creator component.
Excel Processor

Use the RPA Excel Processor element to parse a big excel file or a part of it, and capture values of certain cells into user fields or a whole area and depict it in an excel type user field.
- Drag-and-drop the RPA Excel Processor element.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Select a binary field in the Excel Document – the document that you have uploaded in a previous stage.
- Define the Action you wish the Excel Processor to perform from the following:
  - Parse Excel – use this action to return values of cells or an entire area of the excel and store it in user fields.
  - Get No of Sheets – this action is useful for large excel files with multiple sheets. The response will be the number of sheets in the uploaded excel.
  - Find in Sheet – use this action when you want to find a certain value in the excel. Define the Search Index.
  - Find the row in Sheet – use this action when you wish to find a specific value in the excel and get the entire row as a response.
- Check the option Create Excel From Uploaded when you want to define an area of the excel to be saved in an excel type field. The fields Read uploaded from (row), Read uploaded to (row), Read uploaded from (column), Read uploaded to (column), and Produced Excel Field appear.
- In Assign to user fields map the user fields with the cells. E.g. if you want to display B2, type in Index r1c1.
- Select a memo user field to store the Response Field after the RPA Excel Processor runs.
RPA Components
RPA Caller/ Receiver

With the Comidor BPMN 2.0 workflow designer, users can involve RPA agents within their processes. Add an RPA Caller in various steps of the workflow design, to send data from the workflow and perform a series of repetitive actions in the 3rd party system, or an RPA Receiver to perform actions and receive data from other systems in Comidor workflow fields.

RPA Caller
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Select which Script to run at this step, from the list of RPA Scripts that you have already created.
- Select which Agent to run at this step, from the list of RPA Agents that you have already created.
- Define the Request Body by specifying the Key and its Value as the run-time value of a custom field or predefined value.
RPA Receiver
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Select a user field to store the RPA Response after the RPA runs.
Sentiment Analysis

Use the Sentiment Analysis element in a workflow to identify and categorize opinions expressed in a text field of a workflow, and determine whether the writer’s attitude is positive, negative, or neutral.
- Specify a Title for the element.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Select which Model you would like to run at this step, from the list of the Sentiment Analysis Models that you have already created.
- Define the field in which the Sentiment analysis should be performed (Sentiment Analysis Field).
- Set a text field as the Response Field, where the sentiment result is stored.
Supportive ML

Add a Supportive ML in the workflow design, to trigger an ML Predictive Model and get a prediction for the Target Field of a workflow.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Select which Model you would like to run at this step, from the list of the ML Predictive Models that you have already created.
Document Analyser

With Comidor Document Analyser Models, enterprises scan documents, e.g. invoices, and create digital copies. The text that is extracted from the document is saved in a text field and can be used within any workflow.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Select which Model you would like to run at this step, from the list of the Document Analyser Models that you have already created.
- Document Analyzer Field: the binary field for the file you wish to analyze.
- Define the Document Analyzer Parameters by correlating the variables with the fields that you wish the text of the document to be stored in.
- You can create a text field and set it as the Response Field, to see the response of this component.
Text Classification

Add a Text Classification to classify the selected Target field based on the ML Text Classification Model.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Select which Model you would like to run at this step, from the list of the ML Text Classification Models that you have already created.
- You will also see the Target field and the Training fields that were selected in the ML Text Classification Model in view-only mode.
RPA Selenium

Use an RPA Selenium in your workflow to replicate repetitive manual steps. Use unique CSS Selectors for specifying each element.
- Drag-and-drop the RPA Selenium element in the workflow design.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- In the Bot Actions table, define all the actions that you wish the bot to execute step-by-step:
  - Go to URL: use this action to define the URL that the bot should browse.
  - Sleep: use this action to determine how many seconds should the bot wait until the next action. This depends on the loading time of each website.
  - Wait for element: use this action when you are not certain of how many seconds the bot should wait for an element to be displayed.
  - Click: use this action to define where the bot should click.
  - Input-Put: select this action when you wish to add value to a specific element. Specify the unique id of the element in “Value 1” and the value of the field in “Field(Runtime Value)”
  - Input-Get: select this action when you wish to get the value of a specific element. Specify the unique id of the element in “Value 1”.
- Select a user field to store the Response Code after the RPA runs. If you have used more than one “Input-Get” all the values are stored in the response field, separated with commas.
Image Classification

Use one or more Image Classification components in your workflow to specify images to be found within documents.
- Drag-and-drop the Image Classification component in the workflow design.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Define the binary field that you wish to be scanned in the Template File.
- Upload the Wanted Image in png which you want to be found in the template file.
- Specify the Response field to store the outcome of the image classification.
  - In case the wanted image is found in the Template file, the response field gets the Actual value
  - In case the wanted image is not found in the Template file, the response field shows -1.
Web Scraper

Use an RPA Web Scraper in your workflow to find information in a selected area of a website and store it inside user fields.
- Drag-and-drop the RPA Web Scraper element in the workflow design.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Define the URL that you wish to be scrapped. Select a text field.
- Choose the Search selector from the variety of options (xpaths, class, id, etc) based on the website you are scrapping.
- Define the Selector (based on the Search option above) Select a text field.
  - You can have a script in a previous step and give a specific value to this field. (e.g. #this.USR_SELECTOR# = “//*[@class=’v2-responsive-table__content v2-pav10′]//tbody/tr/td”)
- Select a memo user field to store the Response Field after the RPA runs.
Code Components
Set values

One of the available code components is the Set values, where Comidor enables users to assign values to specific fields. For example, you can give to a date field the value of the current date (#DATE#), make a calculation, define a value (make a checkbox checked, or give an option in a key-value list type field), etc.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- In the Data map, define the fields of the workflow and the values you wish to assign to them.
  - Click on the + icon to map more fields
  - Click on the – icon to remove a row.
Existence check

With the Existence check component, Comidor enables users to check if a record exists in a particular Comidor application. For example, you can check the existence of a contact or an account based on a defined condition (e.g. email).
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Define in which Entity you want to search in if a record exists. Choose from the list of all Comidor applications.
- Write the Condition of your query (as if you would write it in a script)
- Choose a Response field to store the response of the check existence code component.
  - If you receive value 1, the system has found at least one query result
  - If you receive value 0, the system has not found any query result
  - You can use the response field in the workflow conditions to activate an alternative flow.
SQL Creator

Another code component is the SQL Creator component, which enables users to produce or execute database queries. For example, you can run an insert query in a specific table (e.g. Contacts). The SQL Creator component supports the statements: Select, Insert, Update, and Delete.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Type: define the kind of operation/statement you want to perform. Choose between the Select, Insert, Update, and Delete options.
- Action: choose between:
  - Produce query – the component forms the statement and writes it on the Statement field so that the user runs it on a DB
  - Execute query – the query is executed and the results (in case of selection) are shown on the Results field
- Advanced Query: if checked, the advanced query text area is displayed and the users write the query to be executed by themselves
  - Recommended for complex queries which cannot be specified otherwise
- Define in which Table you want to search in if a record exists. Choose from the list of all Comidor applications.
- Choose fields: the field (select one field of the table) Value (select an app/process field)
  - in case of insert: the entity which will be inserted has the value to the respective field
  - in case of update: similarly for the entity which will be updated
  - in case of select: the field of the first row of the results is stored to the Value
  - Click on the + icon to add more fields to your query.
  - Click on the – icon to remove a row.
- Write the Condition of your query (as if you would write it in a script)
- Order by: in the first row select the field which will sort the results, and in the second, specify if the sorting will be ascending or descending.
- Choose a Results field to store the response of the code component.
String Utilities

Drag-n-drop the String Utilities code component into your workflow to perform common functions for a string variable (text field). Currently, the String Utilities code component supports the Index of and the Substring methods.
By using the Index of method, the user identifies the position of the first character of a string inside another. It is also a way to actually check if a character or a string exists in another.
The Substring method enables the user to get a part (substring) of a string(text) by defining the start and the end positions.
- Specify a Title for the component.
- Set the Parent Stage, which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Select a string field: the text or memo type field to run this code component.
- String function: choose between the options:
  - Index of
  - Substring
- Determine the Function Parameters:
  - Value to be found – for Index of: define the value of a field(runtime value) or a hardcoded value to be found in the string field selected above.
  - Start index – for Substring: add a value of the character position to start the substring
  - End index – for Substring: add a value of the character position to end the substring
- Choose the Result field to store the response of your function.
JSON Array to Excel

One of the code components that allows you to get values from a JSON is the JSON Array to Excel. Add this code component into your workflow, get values from a JSON array and give its values to an excel type user field.
- Give a Title to the component.
- Set the Parent Stage which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Choose the memo/text field that contains the JSON array in the Input.
- Define from the list of user fields the excel type field to store the Output.
- Choose the Result text field to store the response of the code component.
  - The response will be “Error” or “Successful”.
Deserialize JSON

Drag-n-drop the deserialize JSON code component into your workflow, get values from a JSON object, and give its values to certain fields. Comidor enables users to map the keys of a JSON object with application fields and assign its values to them.
- Give a Title to the component.
- Set the Parent Stage which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Choose the memo/text field that contains the JSON object you want to deserialize.
- Map the JSON keys with fields in which the values of the corresponding keys will be stored.
  - Click on the + icon to add more keys
  - Click on the – icon to remove keys.
- Choose the Result text field to store the response of the code component.
  - The response will be “Error” or “Successful”.
Custom Component

Comidor workflow customization options are now limitless through the custom components building. Developers can upload their own plugins for custom code to perform any advanced functionality they wish.

My plugins table

Manage all your plugins in the My Plugins table and add new code for your custom components by defining the class name and uploading a jar file (code in Java). Only system administrators have access to this unit from the System Administration menu icon> My Plugins.

Drag-n-drop the new Custom Component in any workflow, and choose which plugin to run. The response of your plugin can be stored in an app field and used in your workflow.
- Give a Title to the component.
- Set the Parent Stage which is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
- Choose the Plugin from the list. Here you will be able to view all the plugin records that the system administrator has created in the “My Plugins table”.
- Choose a text field in the Output field to store the response of the code component.
Find out more on how to include Code components in your workflows.

Find out more on how to create and manage workflows step by step.

The post Workflow Components appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Workflow Designer

Comidor team — Tue, 02 May 2023 08:10:24 +0000

With Comidor BPMN 2.0 Designer, you can map and optimize any process that takes place in your company.

To access Workflow Designer, click on the App Factory icon > Process Automation > Process Designs.

Learn how to create and manage workflows step by step.

Workflow Design

In the Design tab, you can start the Workflow creation.

Workflow Components

Basic Components:

Comidor offers the following BPMN 2.0 basic workflow components:

- Tasks and escalations
- Subprocess
- Email
- SMS
- Notification
- Timer
- AND/OR/XOR gateways
- Annotation
- End

Integration Components:

Additionally, designers cover their integration needs with the following workflow components:

- RESTful Web Service
- OpenAI ChatGPT
- Message Queue
- Teams integration
- Google Integration
- Zoho projects API
- Zoho leads API
- Freshdesk API
- Salesforce API

Data Components:

Designers use low-code data workflow components for data input and output.

- Comidor DATA (insert/update/delete)
- Shell Command
- File Reader
- Export Data
- Convert Data
- Digital Signature
- Document Creator
- QR Generator
- Table Extractor
- Excel Processor
- Graph Creator
- Blockchain

RPA Workflow Components:

Other workflow components can be added within the workflow design to enhance automation in business processes with RPA and ML/AI. Those components are:

- RPA Caller/ Receiver
- Sentiment Analysis
- Document Analyzer
- Text Classification
- Predictive ML
- Selenium RPA
- Image Classification
- Web Scraper

Code Components:

Users without development skills can add the following workflow code components into the workflow designs to replace commands and queries:

- Set values
- Existence check
- SQL Creator
- String Utilities
- JSON Array to Excel
- Deserialize JSON

Basic Components

Flow Objects

In the Workflow Design panel, you may see flow objects like:

Events
Activities
Gateways

Events

Having Standard Start Event and End Event already in the design area, you can add more flow objects with drag-and-drop in your Workflow. The Start Event Notation can be only one; a workflow may start when:

a Process (of any type: Generic Process, Project, Opportunity, Event, Training, Issue, Ticket, Topic, Job Posting, Campaign) connected with this Workflow is set as “Running”
a Process Template is initiated with the initial state “Running”
a Process Schedule is triggered

Still, you may have as many End Events as you needed.

Other Intermediate Events exist:

Email: The email element is a Throwing-Message Intermediate Event that can be used to create and send custom emails through your automated process.
Timer: The timer element is a Catching-Timer Intermediate Event that adds a timer counting delays in hours or days in your workflow.
System Notification: Sends pre-defined or custom system messages to specific Comidor users.

Timer boundary Events and Conditional Events are depicted in Comidor differently than within Activities.

Events affect the process flow and have a cause (trigger) and an effect (impact/result).

Activities

Activities refer to work performed by the user(s)/group(s) (atomic or non-atomic) which can be a Task or Sub-Process (sub-process may be of any type: Generic Process, Project, Opportunity, Event, Training, Issue, Ticket, Topic, Job Posting, Campaign).

Tasks (atomic or choreography): a task is used when the work is not broken into a finer level, while the choreography task is used when more than one participant is involved and needs to exchange messages. This piece of work is depicted in Comidor with a Workflow Task that can be assigned to one or more Personnel/Group leader(s) of a team/whole team and can be broken down manually to sub-tasks later, while the process is on the go.
Sub-process: a process that can be broken down into a set of smaller activities (other workflows with tasks and sub-processes or call activities) and can involve one or more participants.

Escalation is also available. The user can set specific conditions that will trigger actions or notifications as per the user’s needs and requirements. In the task you wish to apply the escalation to, click on the upwards arrow button. A new window opens, where you can create and manage the escalations for this particular task.

Click on the “+” button to create a new escalation. In the “Basic” tab, fill in the Description, Priority, and Repetition Days fields. Workflow and Stage fields are automatically set and cannot be edited.

In the “Conditions” tab, choose the conditions based on which an action or notification should be triggered. For example, in case the completion of the task is delayed by a specific amount of hours or more, a predefined action could be triggered or notifications/emails could be sent to specified users/groups.

In the “Actions” tab, you have the option to perform an action in a field related to the mother process or to a global field. In this example, when the task’s finish is delayed over 3 hours, the mother process state will be paused. The “+” and “-” buttons allow you to add or delete actions.

In the “Notifications” tab, you can select the users/groups that should receive the notification. In addition, you can add related comments in the “Content” field. The users will receive the notification in the System Notifications button of the main Notification bar.

Similarly, in the “E-mails” tab, you can either select the users/groups that should receive a predefined email or type a specific email address. In order for your email to be sent, you have to set up first an email account.

Once all the above have been completed, click on “Save” or “Save and New” if you wish to create more escalations for this task. Otherwise, click on”Cancel” if you do not want to save your entry.

Gateways

A gateway is used to determine the branching, forking, merging, and joining of paths drawn by sequence flow. In Comidor we have Exclusive, Inclusive, and Parallel gateways.

Inclusive (OR) Gateway: Inclusive Gateway refers to activating one or more flows when dividing. For incoming, all paths may be taken/fulfilled, from one to all.
Parallel (AND) Gateway (Fork/Join): Parallel Gateway refers to dividing into two or more flows (fork). For incoming flows, the parallel gateway will wait for all incoming flows before continues (join).
Exclusive (XOR) Gateway: Exclusive Gateway refers to choosing “either/or” and will limit the outcome to exactly one single flow of the output branches.

Connectors

We use sequence flow connecting objects in Comidor.

Conditional Flow shows the order of activities; it may hold a condition (conditional flow) or stand as default flow. It connects activities/events/gateways that exist in the same pool/lane.

Learn more about each Workflow Component in detail.

Swimlanes: Pool and Lanes

Pool and Lane define the responsibility for activities (tasks/sub-processes)
Lanes exist inside a Pool and pool boundaries represent the process that is automated with the workflow
We may have a Pool with different Lanes (participants such as the user(s)/group(s) for process automation) or have different Pools with one Lane for different sub-processes of an automated mother process
You can add Lanes in the Pool by clicking on the upper-left-side “+” button in the Designer. A Lane name is a free text – you may add a name of a person, department, or role
You can click on the pencil button to edit the name of a Swim Lane, and change its position with the arrows.

Manage Workflows Design

In general, there are some workflow management actions either referring to Design or Workflow ID:

Choose how the conditional flow is depicted in Paths. Choose between Free, Classic, or Classic – Ignore Obstacles based on your preferences.
Define the workflow validity period by clicking on the mini calendar icon.
Add private or public tags to this workflow design for easier tracking and search capability.
Leave a comment in Notes; people having access to the workflow will be notified accordingly.

Click here to view some Workflow Examples.

The post Workflow Designer appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Workflow Simulation

Comidor team — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 08:50:22 +0000

Designing a complicated workflow can be sometimes tricky and testing might be needed before the final launch. Comidor offers workflow simulation capabilities and techniques for the simulation of process workflows. Users can perform testing and optimize their processes. The respective module, the Workflow Simulator, enables users to pilot different scenarios and make predictions and forecasts about the results of processes. With the Workflow simulator, users can also spot errors that would not otherwise be able to identify in the initial steps of workflow designing.

Create Workflow Simulator

In order to access the Workflow Simulator go to the App Factory > Workflow Automation > Workflow Simulator.

Click on the “+” button to open the creation form
In the Basic Info, give a title for your process simulation
Select the workflow that you wish to simulate from the list with the existing workflow designs
Define the number of iterations for your simulation workflow to determine how many times the process should repeat. By running multiple iterations, the system can test, analyze, and refine different outcomes, helping you optimize workflows based on various conditions and scenarios for improved efficiency.
Click on Save to save the new Simulation.
- Check the Quick Reference Guide for all saving options

Simulation Design

In the window that opens, select the Design tab on the left side menu. In this section, you can build your scenario cases by giving specific or random values to the custom and database fields that belong to the workflow you want to simulate. Keep in mind that if you have set required fields in the forms of your workflow, you have to include them in the Simulation design phase, too.

Add a new Scenario.
Type the Name of your scenario in the pop-up box and click save.
Click on the + Add field button to create a new field row
Select a database or custom field by typing its name
Depending on the field type that you have chosen, type a value in a text/number field, select an option in a drop-down field, select a date from the calendar in a date field, check a checkbox field, etc.
Alternatively, select the random option, and Workflow Simulator will randomly assign a value to the field
You can delete a field from the simulation design by clicking on the “-” icon
Finally, click on Publish once the simulation design is completed
After adding all the fields you wish and having built your scenario, you are ready to start the Simulation. Click on Run Simulation to proceed
Delete the selected scenario

Manage Scenarios

While having an existing Workflow Simulator record open, go to the Design tab in the left side menu to manage your existing Scenarios.

Select a scenario from the list
Apply any changes you wish
Click on Publish
You can also Delete the selected Scenario

Simulation Workflow and Processes

When the simulation process is completed, you can see all the simulation processes that were produced in the tab Processes on the left-side menu.

You can also find all processes that were created from the workflow Simulator in the Generic Processes table.
Click on any of the simulation processes to see the state, workflow tasks, or possible errors in the workflow design
Monitor all actions that took place in each simulation from the Workflow audit of each process
- If you have selected fixed values in the simulation design phase all simulation processes will have the same state and will have followed the same path in the workflow
- If you have selected random values at least in one field in the simulation design phase, simulation processes will have a random outcome (state, workflow tasks)
In order to run a new simulation, you have to delete the existing simulation processes first. From the actions button on the top-left of your screen, select Delete existing processes. A pop-up notification will appear informing you about the number of processes and subprocesses that were deleted. Note that these processes will be also deleted from the Generic processes table.

Simulation Analytics

Get a full view of workflow simulation processes in Simulation Analytics. Select Analytics on the left-side menu.

Use Analytics Filters to get results for a specific Team or User. Select a Team or User from the drop-down lists and click Refresh.
- If you don’t apply filters you will get total results
In Analytics Totals, you can get information about:
- how many instances occurred; this refers to the iteration you set in the summary tab and represents the number of simulation processes
- how many tasks were triggered in total in all instances
- an average number of tasks per instance
- instances per state in total, in a pie chart display
- the number of total and delayed Tasks per team and Tasks per User is depicted in horizontal bar graphs

In the Analytics preview, you can see the workflow design that you have selected in the summary
- Tasks that were activated at least once in the simulation are highlighted in green
- In each task, the Total number of times that this task was created (along with the correlated percentage) is depicted. Based on the scenario that was built during the simulation, each task might have a different total number and percentage
- Change the analytics filter select a team or a user and see only the tasks that were assigned to this particular team/user in the preview

Manage Simulation Workflows

In order to access the Workflow Simulator go to the App Factory > Workflow Automation > Workflow Simulator.

Select the workflow simulation that you wish to edit
Click on the pencil button
Apply the changes you wish and click on Save
From the actions button on the top left, you can also Delete the simulation or Print the current view. As explained before, you should delete the existing simulation processes first, to run a new simulation.

You can also Delete one or more workflow simulations, from the Workflow simulation table. Check one or more entries from the Workflow simulation table and click on Delete.

The post Workflow Simulation appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.